Beautiful day today for giving thanks for our family and friends and for celebrating our family’s love with a meal together. I am in a food coma for the second time this week. Had just recovered from the McMurray Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed a second Thanksgiving dinner today with my daughter-in-law’s family that brought on a second food coma. We had a delicious dinner, the sweet potatoes tasted like dessert! I am blessed with family and I’m grateful for them. I love them dearly!

I drove this morning to Jackson’s Gap, chasing a blue, white clouded sky, the last of the colorful fall leaves clinging to the branches of the trees lining the highway. Some of the trees held their leaves too long and are now dressed in brown wrinkled sweaters. Before dinner I sat on the porch facing a deep dark-watered pond, the trees reflected on its still waters, and watched and listened to some golden eagles calling their mates in a far away oak tree, its branches hung with mistletoe balls.

Went up to my grandmother McMurray’s house late afternoon to visit my cousin who lives there and another cousin who was visiting. My grandmother’s house came alive on the holidays, all my first cousins’ families coming home to visit. Too many years have passed since we’ve seen each other. It’s a shame as we grow up, we sometimes also grow apart.

Immediately going in the door, I was bombard with all the memories of the holidays spent at my grandmother’s home — delicious dinners sharing the piano stool seat with my cousin who grew up to pilot the space shuttle Endeavor, hot yeast rolls fresh out of the oven with a little pat of butter in the middle, wash tubs of cold watermelons, lemonade in white enamel buckets, a kitchen counter overflowing with meats and vegetables and casseroles, a dinning room buffet laden down with delicious desserts, games in the back yard, a horse in the pasture, porch swing rides on the screened in porch, a black crow with a string around its leg, a little crippled brown dog, a large sweet protective German shepherd, gorgeous pulled thread linen tablecloths and napkins, beautiful china….

I was sitting with my cousins talking and I could visualize my grandmother’s small Christmas tree, standing in the corner of the room, covered in handmade sequined balls, each one unique and a work of art, wondrous ornaments sparkling in the eyes of a child. Wish I had one of them to hang on my tree. I could see my grandmother holding my first born child, dressed in a red velvet bubble suit, celebrating his first Christmas dinner with my McMurray family. I feel old with these flooding memories bombarding me.

Family is so important, whether its large or small, the love we have for each other is a special gift. We choose to be a family, doesn’t have to be genetics. We need to nurture our families and encourage our children to pass on our traditions. These holiday dinners bring family together, nurture friendships, and help keep the family bond strong. These traditions help us connect with our heritage.

A family provides a safe place for children to experience God’s love and teaches them how to love other people. Jesus was born into a family and the family unit is precious to God. Love and devotion to each other makes us a family. This life we live is tough sometimes and we need our families to lean on. Families are the pillars of our strength.

“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.” – Thomas Jefferson